Date: Sat, 10 May 1997 02:37:30 -0500
From: Mary Louise Ferguson
Subject: BIO: SUB: POEM
These lines will serve as my introduction. I would love your criticisms.
Your banter, please. Oh, happy day!
Mary Louise Ferguson
LISTEN
How precious,the banter: the glue
that holds us together. Greetings
and goodbyes; minutia shared.
Even the casual aside, the perfunctory salute
with meaningless reply, perform
a kind of ritual. And afterward,
when all have been a long time
gone--voices and faces loved--
their words come back in the emptiness
and they always say what they would have said
if we could reach out and touch again.
(Do I need to add (c)?)